Along Came a Spider

Posted on Mon Apr 28th, 2025 @ 12:06am by BT-99 & Ensign Andrea Astor & Petty Officer 3rd Class Korbin Aries

1,037 words; about a 5 minute read

Mission: Spiders of Sarastus VII
Location: Bellwether Station | Cargo Hold

Several dozen cargo holds aboard the old communications relay station, Bellwether, and they all looked nearly identical. Packed with barrels and containers of various colors, shapes, and sizes with different labels on them all to be scanned, inventoried, and properly disposed of if past their prime when it came to perishables such as food and beverage items. Bellwether did not need to have it's own Slug-O-Cola contamination scandal, and the Doctor certainly did not want to handle a small outbreak of Salmonella or Campylobacter. Lieutenant Commander Brott on a good day was one thing, Brott experiencing a gastrointestinal disease was something nobody needed to experience. He had tasked Ensign Astor to work with one of their newest crew, Petty Officer Korbin Aries with going through one of the cargo holds and inventory what was there.

A few of the more recent items to be unloaded and moved to the cargo hold were medical supplies, food rations, and a bunch of fabrics that Brott had acquired in recent months. Containers from a few dozen worlds: P'Jem, Risa, Sarastus VII, and Pacifica to name a few. Assisting the two were Bellwether's re-assembled, previously damaged Exocomp that the station's former pilot had brought them, the unit was BT-99 and it was not as sophisticated as newer models but would be able to get simple jobs done.

The task ahead of them was not a particularly difficult one but was likely to be time consuming. From early morning, Ensign Astor had worked alongside BT-99 and Aries, their efforts currently focusing on the older containers in the far righ corner of the bay.

Half way up a ladder, the beam of her flashlight sweeping over a label of a stacked container, she frowned. “K-345-Delta,” she called down to Aries. “It’s just labelled as general supplies… that’s beyond unhelpful. But it’s been here a while. Almost nine months. Anything on the logs to say what might be inside?”

Their station commander could be somewhat eccentric, so inside could be literally anything. Candles to candies, blankets to xylophones and anything in between. Climbing a few more rungs she was able to step onto the lid of the container as BT-99 hovered beside her.

BT-99 hovered beside the ensign and made a series of beeping noises and an elongated chirp. The exocomp shared the ensign's 'enthusiasm' over the station commander's chore for the trio. Able to use a built in replicator to replicate any tool it needed for a job, the exocomp circled the K-345-Delta container and replicated a standard issue bin bag for rubbish.

Korbin chuckled "BT is ready to take out the rubbish" he continued to verify the cargo with what was listed on his PaDD.

“We need to get inside first,” Astor pointed out. The main door into the massive container had shown no indicator light above it when she had climbed up. The seal had seemed intact, but the control panel was dark. Which was fixable. It was probably an overloaded circuit on an ancient container in need of replacement.

She worked quickly, with a little assistance from BT, grinning when she saw the reflection of a green light. Picking up her tools, she slung the kit bag over her shoulder and was quick to climb down to reach the control panel and unseal the unit.

There was a brief delay before the door began to open with a hiss, sliding in on itself to leave a wide opening. “Ready to fill up that bag?” She asked BT, allowing the exo-comp to take the lead as she activated her flashlight and followed BT inside.

BT-99 let out a serious of beeps expressing its lack of enthusiasm.

"Want me to help" Korbin asked "I figure another set up hands would make the job go faster."

The vast cargo hold hummed with a low, mechanical rhythm. Overhead, the dim lights flickered sporadically, casting long, shifting shadows across the walls. Stacks of metallic containers towered over the space, arranged in rigid, disciplined rows.

Ensign Andrea Astor knelt beside an open crate, her tricorder emitting quiet, rhythmic chirps as she scanned the cargo. Petty Officer Korbin Aries heaved a container onto an anti-grav sled nearby, the dull thud of metal on metal echoing through the chamber.

Between them hovered BT-99, a small Exocomp, its propulsion unit gently thrumming as it zipped from one container to the next. The little machine emitted a series of animated beeps and chirps, its manipulator arms deftly slicing open crates and adjusting their contents with mechanical precision.

A faint skittering sound whispered from somewhere high above. BT-99 let out a sound that could only be described as startled. Andrea paused, her hand tightening on the tricorder. Korbin looked as though he had been frozen, container half-shoved onto the sled, his head tilting upward.

From the shadows near the ceiling, a mechanical arachnid detached itself and dropped with lethal precision. It landed atop BT-99 with a sharp metallic clank. In a blur of motion, the spider-like machine drove a slender, needle-like appendage into the Exocomp’s casing.

BT-99 jerked violently, emitting a shrill alarm. Its arms flailed helplessly, sending sparks flying as the attacker dug deeper. The Exocomp's thruster sputtered wildly, throwing it into a chaotic spin.

Suddenly, the creature detached, scurrying across the deck in a blur of metallic limbs.

The spider scaled the wall with eerie speed, its magnetized limbs clicking rapidly against the bulkhead. With a final flicker of motion, it disappeared into the dark recesses of a ventilation shaft, the metal grating swinging slightly in its wake.

Silence returned to the cargo hold, broken only by BT-99’s sputtering, high-pitched whines. The Exocomp, its casing scorched and dented, hovered unsteadily for a moment before crashing softly to the floor.

The Exocomp had managed to connect to the station's LCARS and communicated with the station in binary. A soft crackle of static came from their combadges. Emergency protocols triggered automatically across Bellwether Station; the distant sound of heavy doors locking echoed faintly through the metal corridors.

Unseen by either of them, a pair of tiny, gleaming eyes glinted from the darkness high in the rafters, silently watching as they retreated from the hold.

 

RSS Feed